


The Most Important Things

by brienne_lannister_of_tarth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, First Kiss, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brienne_lannister_of_tarth/pseuds/brienne_lannister_of_tarth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaime and Brienne are living together (but are not a couple). Jaime has plans for visiting his family on New Year's Eve while Brienne stays at home, lying to Jaime about her plans. Realisations happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Important Things

“Do you really have to go?” Brienne asked Jaime as she stood awkwardly in his bedroom and watched him packing. It was New Year's Eve, and Jaime was getting ready to face his family. 

“Dad will disinherit me if I don't show up there tonight. Or he might kill me,” he answered with a grin. “And you know you won't really miss me that much. You'll have the TV all to yourself and can watch one of your stupid romantic comedies. And you won't have to yell at me because I almost burned down the kitchen.” 

Brienne rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, you're right...living with you is horrible. Get out of here, or I might beat your dad to killing you.” 

Jaime just laughed. He knew that Brienne wasn't serious. “By the way, do YOU have plans for tonight?” he changed the topic. “I don't really want you to be all alone when the new year begins. I know how sentimental you tend to get.” He winked at her, but there was a worried undertone to his words which showed that he was actually trying to be serious.

Brienne, however, didn't seem to notice. “Shut up,” she answered and tried to hit his arm, but he moved away just in time. “I'm probably going to meet Sansa or Margaery or both of them and we'll have a nice evening. Is that good enough for you?” She knew that she didn't sound too convincing.

But Jaime, being oblivious as most of the time, didn't notice. He just nodded and said, “Sounds good to me. All right, I think I have everything...well, see you next year, wench! Have fun tonight!” He hugged her for a short moment, and then he was gone.

********************

After Jaime had left the apartment, Brienne went to her room and sat down on her bed. She would never have admitted it, but she already missed him. And now an evening lay ahead of her which she would spend all by herself. She had been lying to Jaime; she didn't have any plans. Neither Sansa nor Margaery had asked her about New Year's eve, probably assuming that Brienne would stay at home with Jaime – and Brienne would have preferred that to any party that Margaery might have dragged her to. 

But telling Jaime about that wouldn't have changed a thing; she knew that his family expected him to be there. And Jaime had been the one who had introduced her to the Margaery and Sansa in the first place, so she didn't want him to believe that she didn't like them. She really enjoyed spending time with them, but being with Jaime was...well, different. 

Thinking of Jaime, Brienne sighed. She didn't have a lot of friends, and amongst those, Jaime was the one who was closest to her. When they had been younger, nobody would have expected that; they had argued all the time. It had gradually gotten better over the years, but she still had had her doubts when he had suggested living together. He had said that he would like to live with someone he already knew; they had both started studying at the same uni and didn't know anyone else besides each other. 

As she had suspected, Jaime was not an easy person to live with, but that hardly mattered any longer. Brienne had really started to like him, and sometimes she believed that he liked her too. And he took care of her – like that one time when he had punched Hyle Hunt in the face because that idiot hadn't accepted 'no' for an answer. 

But at the same time, Brienne was painfully aware of the fact that there would never be more than friendship between them. If she was being honest, she had thought about that more than once. There was just one problem: Jaime was one of the most attractive guys at uni, and he loved flirting with pretty girls. And there were always a lot of those around him because not only was he good-looking, but his family was also rich. He had probably flirted with every single female student, but never with her. And somehow she felt hurt because of that. 

“But why should he even consider me...I'm not pretty, I'm not smart, I'm nothing...” she thought. “Stop dreaming, Brienne,” she told herself. “Wake up. He'll never think of you that way.” She could feel tears running down her cheeks. “Damn you, Lannister,” she thought. She had cried a lot when she had been younger and he had said something mean. And now he had made her cry again – but for a completely different reason. 

********************

While Brienne slowly came to the realisation that her feelings for him had changed, Jaime was on the road to Casterly Rock. He really wasn't looking forward to the evening ahead of him. The only member of his family he could bear to see on a regular basis was Tyrion. The rest of them...no thank you. Especially Cersei could really be annoying. More than once she had seen family gatherings as another chance to hit on him, and Jaime had the feeling that tonight wouldn't be different. He had told Cersei again and again that it was over, but she seemed to have problems understanding that. 

“I should have stayed with Brienne,” he thought – not for the first time since he had gotten in the car. He liked her much better than most members of his family. Considering their past, Jaime often wondered how Brienne could stand him. He knew that he was really difficult sometimes, and Brienne was the only one who was putting up with all his antics. 

Even though he had been very mean to her when they had been younger, Brienne had agreed to move in with him, and now he couldn't imagine living with someone else. They even had become friends in the last three years – even though Brienne had kicked his ass more than once when he had come home drunk before an important exam, especially in their first year. After having realised that his money and his good looks wouldn't grant him good grades, he had eventually started to work harder and now he was one of the best students. He knew that he really owed that to Brienne. He felt like he had become a better person – and it was all thanks to her.

But he wasn't the only one who had benefited from their friendship. He had introduced Brienne to some of his friends, and they seemed to get along very well. And not to forget the evening when Hyle Hunt ran into Jaime's fist repeatedly. When Sansa had told him that Brienne was in trouble, Jaime had just had to act. He knew a lot about Brienne's past and her bad luck with men, and in that moment, protecting her from more pain was everything he had been able to think about. He only wanted to see her happy. Brienne did not smile often, but when she did, she was pretty. Jaime loved the way her beautiful eyes lit up in these moments. Of course he didn't think that Brienne was ugly when she didn't smile...

And in that moment, he almost hit the brakes. How could he have been so stupid? As soon as it was possible, Jaime pulled over and stopped his car. He just sat there for at least five minutes as realisation hit him. First of all, how could he have been so oblivious? When he had asked her about her plans for tonight and she had told him, she had smiled...but that smile hadn't reached her eyes – and most of the time, this meant that Brienne was lying. Why had she done that? As for the other thing – could he have fallen in love with his best friend? When had that happened? There was just one way to deal with all of this now. Jaime took his phone and dialed Tyrion's number. 

“Jaime! Where in the seven hells are you? We're waiting!” his brother greeted him. 

He answered, “You can stop waiting, actually. Listen, brother, I need you to tell dad something from me...”

********************

Fifteen minutes to midnight, Brienne stood on the balcony of their apartment and waited for the fireworks. Her evening had been pretty terrible. She had cried most of the time, and she almost hated herself for missing Jaime so much. After all, he would never see her as more than just a friend, no matter what she did or how much tears she shed. It was just a hopeless crush, just like all the other times before. Only this time, it seemed to be much worse. 

“Why didn't you tell me that you didn't have any plans for tonight?” a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned around and was astonished to see Jaime standing in front of her. 

“I'm hallucinating, right? How can you be here?” she asked. 

Jaime smiled and said, “You know, it's impolite to ignore my question...why didn't you tell me? And...gods, Brienne, have you been crying?” He noticed how red her eyes were and felt almost guilty. Something had made her sad and he hadn't been there to protect her...

“I didn't tell you because it wouldn't have changed anything. You still would have gone to see your family. Or am I mistaken?” 

“You are mistaken, wench. Why do you think I am here? I was almost there...but then I realised something.” 

“And what might that be?” 

“This might sound terrible, but I realised that there are more important things than my family...and that there is also something very important I have to do at midnight, and I can't do that at Casterly.”

“And what is so important?” Brienne asked, but she was interrupted when people outside started counting down. 

“Wait and see,” Jaime said and winked at her. When the countdown arrived at zero, they could hear voices shouting, “Happy New Year!”, and the fireworks began. But Jaime only had eyes for Brienne. “Happy New Year, wench,” he said. 

Brienne rolled her eyes at him and answered, “How often do I have to tell you that my name is...” but she couldn't finish, for suddenly she felt Jaime's lips on her own. It was a very chaste kiss and lasted no longer than a few seconds seconds, but he had kissed her...when she dared to look at him, she noticed that he looked almost scared – scared of having made a mistake, she realised. 

Deciding for once not to torment him, she smiled and said, “Happy New Year, idiot.” And then it was her who kissed him.


End file.
